Hand gun bullet proof protective headgear

ABSTRACT

A protective headgear assembly consisting of an impact distributing outer shell, a multi-layer woven nylon liner positioned in surface-to-surface engagement with and secured to the outer shell, and a shape conforming foam sub-liner positioned in surface-to-surface engagement with and secured to the nylon liner. A multi-cellular inflatable inner support crown is positioned in surface-to-surface engagement with the shaped foam sub-liner to form a device capable of stopping lead bullets fired from hand guns and thereby protect the scalp, skull and brain of the wearer from injury.

United States Patent [1 1 1111 3,906,546 Gooding 1 Sept. 23, 1975 15 1HAND GUN BULLET PROOF PROTECTIVE 3,582,990 6/1971 Frieder 2/6 HEADGEAR3,668,704 6/1972 Conroy 2/3 R Primary Examiner-Werner H. SchroederAttorney, Agent, or FirmOlsen and Stephenson [5 7] ABSTRACT ing foamsubliner positioned in surface-to-surface engagement with and secured tothe nylon liner. A multicellular inflatable inner support crown ispositioned in surface-to-surface engagement with the shaped foamsub-liner to forni a device capable of stopping lead bullets fired fromhand guns and thereby protect the scalp, skull and brain of the wearerfrom injury. P

5 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures [76] Inventor: Elwyn R. Gooding, 120 DarwinRd.,

Pinckney, Mich. 48169 [22] Filed: Apr. 16, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 351,657

[52] U.S. Cl. 2/3 R; 2/6 [51] Int. Cl F4111 1/04; A42B 3/00 [58] Fieldof Search 2/3 R, 5, 6, 2.5; 161/404 [56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,351,235 6/1944 Shroyer et a1. 2/6 3,018,210 l/1962 Frieder eta1. 2/3 R 3,039,108 6/1962 Lohrenz 2/3 R 3,186,004 6/1965 Carlini 2/3 R3,353,187 11/1967 Lastnik et a1. 2/3 R Sheet 1 of 3 Sept. 23,1975

US mm Sept. 23,1975 Shet 3 Of?) HAND GUN BULLET PROOF PROTECTIVEHEADGEAR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Thisinvention relates to the field of protective headgear for police,security officers, firemen, armed forces personnel and the like. Thecomposite plastic and metal helmets, which are presently being used bysuch people, are not hand gun bullet proof, are usually mounted onvarious web type suspension systems that engage the wearers head withvery little attenuation of impact forces and therefore are not adequatefor preventing injuries to the scalp, skull and brain of the wearer frombullets fired at close range. US. Pat. No. 3,350,718 illustrates a typeof police helmet which is presently being used extensively. Such ahelmet consists of a semi-flexible or rigid outer shell and acompressible expandable polystyrene liner covered with a thin nylonfabric. A typical helmet used by firemen is shown in US Pat. No.1,889,537 as having a rigid outer shell with a fabric sling typesuspension system. With such helmets any impact from a blow applied tothe outer shell is transmitted to the head of the wearer with littlediminution of the force of impact. Such a construction will not stop anycaliber of bullet.

It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide aprotective headgear assembly constructed specifically to stop bulletsfired by hand guns and also protect the wearer from head injuries fromimpacts such as during a vehicle crash, falling off a fire truck,falling debris, thrown objects, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The protective headgear assembly of thisinvention has been designed to protect the wearer from head injuriesthat result from widely different kinds ofimpacts; i.e., high energyimpacts distributed over a large area such as in a vehicle crash andhigh velocity impacts to a small area such as from bullets. Protectionof the scalp, skull and brain from injuries under these circumstancesrequires the dissipation of the forces in different ways.

The protective headgear assembly of this invention consists of aninitial impact force absorbing and distributing outer shell and acombination of impact force distributing and absorbing multi-layer wovennylon liner, polyurethane foam sub-liner and a multi-cellular inflatableinner support crown therefor which coact to absorb all degrees of impactforces and distribute these forces throughout an extensive area of theheadgear as sembly so as to minimize the localized forces applied to thewearers head. The outer shell is made of a high impact polycarbonateplastic which has the capability of retaining high impact strength andresilience over a wide temperature range. During high energy impactssuch as when the wearer falls from or is thrown from a moving vehicleand the protective headgear strikes the ground, the outer shell willdeform and thereby attenuate the force of impact. In the kind of highvelocity impact as from a bullet, the outer shell offers such resistanceas to start to alter the shape of the lead bullet nose to a mushroomshape as it penetrates.

The multi-layer woven ballistic nylon liner in surface to-surfaceengagement with the inner surface of the outer shell has thecharacteristics which enable it to fully arrest the bullet after it haspenetrated the outer shell. The layers of woven nylon are merely laidadjacent to each other and joined together only at the perimeter so thateach layer acts as a net.

The especially formulated polyurethane foam subliner insurface-to-surface engagement with the inner surface of the multi-layerwoven nylon liner acts in much the same manner as the layers of wovennylon in absorbing high impacts over a. small area. The resilient foamplastic is capable of yielding and deforming under the force of impact.It thus absorbs and redistributes the resultant force to the inflatableinner support crown and then through its unique characteristic returnsto its original shape.

The protective inflatable inner support crown, which does not in itselfform a part of the present invention, is removably mounted within theouter shell with its intermediate liners so as to be disposedcircumferentially between these components and the wearers head. Theinner support crown which is more fully described in US. Pat. No.3,462,763, is formed of a resilient yieldable plastic which can be airor inert gas inflated to the desired pressure and which consists of aplurality of inflated chambers or cells. Any force applied to the outershell is quickly distributed and transmitted to the multilayer wovennylon liner, thence to the polyurethane foam sub-liner and finally tothe multi-cellular inner support crown which instantaneously reacts toabsorb the forces applied, throughout its entirety. The protectiveheadgear assembly of this invention also provides for absorption ofnoise, and is relatively lightweight, and is insulated for comfortpurposes.

Further objects, features and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent from a consideration of the following description, the appendedclaims, and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a side elevation view of one embodiment of the protectiveheadgear of this invention, illustrating the physical relationship ofthe protective headgear assembly to the head;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the protective headgear assemblyshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the protective headgear assembly shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the protectiveheadgear assembly as seen from substantially the line 22 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the protectiveheadgear assembly of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the segments of one layer for the muIti-layerwoven ballistic nylon liner;

FIG. 7 is a pictorial perspective view of one assembled layer of themulti-Iayer woven ballistic nylon liner;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the segments of each alternate layer for themulti-layer woven ballistic nylon liner;

FIG. 9 is a pictorial perspective view of each alternate assembled layerof the multi-layer woven ballistic nylon liner;

FIG. 10 is a pictorial perspective view of the contour shaped foamsub-liner;

FIG. 11 is a pictorial perspective view of the impact absorbing anddistributing multi-cellular inflatable inner support crown; and

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view, like FIG. 5, illustrating amodified form of the outer shell in the protective headgear assembly ofthis invention.

With reference to the drawing, the hand gun bullet proof protectiveheadgear assembly of this invention, indicated generally at 10, isillustrated in FIG. I mounted on the head 12 of a law enforcementofficer such as a motorcycle patrolman. The hand gun bullet proofprotective headgear assembly consists of an outer shell 14, liner 16, asub-liner 18 and a multicellular inflatable support crown 15 which coactin a manner to be described in detail hereinafter to stop hand gunbullets of 0.22, 0.25, 0.32, 0.38, and 0.357 caliber so as to preventpenetration or injury to the scalp, skull and brain of the wearer.

The outer shell 14, which in the illustrated embodiment of the inventionshown in FIG. 1, is preferably molded from a tough but resilient plasticmaterial, commonly known as LEXAN polycarbonate. The outer shell 14 mustbe of one piece, of uniform Wall thickness and of a shape to cover theentire head including the ears. The outer shell 14 has an enlargedbeaded portion 28 extending around its perimeter, which serves tostrengthen the outer shell.

In the modified form of the outer shell illustrated in FIG. 12, theouter shell 14 is replaced by two shell sections 114 and 116 which aremaintained in a spaced relationship with each other by a spacer 115.Design configurations incorporating various combinations of wallthicknesses and spacings can be employed in the outer shell of theheadgear of this invention to obtain the desired degree of resilienceand impact strength to adapt the headgear 10 to a specific application.As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the liner 16 consists of alternate layers 22and 24, respectively, of woven ballistic nylon which are die cut to thegeneral shapes as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8 and joined together at theirmating edges with a heat sealable tape 61, 63 and 81, 83, respectively.Each layer 22 (FIGS. 6 and 7) consists of a large transverse section 64and front and rear sections 60 and 62. Each layer 24 consists of a largelongitudinal section 80 and side sections 84 and 86. Thus, when layers22 and 24 are superposed on each other, the large sections 64 and 80extend at generally right angles to each other. The successive layersare merely in surface-to-surface engagement with each other andobviously the outermost layer would be larger than next underlying layeras would each succeeding layer. The outermost layer of the multi-layerwoven ballistic nylon liner 16 is in surface-to-surface engagement withthe inner surface of the outer shell 14.

The sub-liner 18 illustrated in FIG. 10 is preferably molded in onepiece of a closed cell foam material. Preferably the sub-liner 18 isformed of especially formulated polyurethane foam having the abovedescribed unique properties so that it will be able to withstand highimpact with great elongation and thereby return to its original shapeafter impact. It is to be in surface-tosurface engagement with the innersurface of the multilayer woven ballistic nylon liner 16.

The multi-layer woven ballistic nylon liner 16 and the shapedpolyurethane sub-liner 18 are positioned within the outer shell 14 andheld in proper relationship with the inflatable edge molding 20 as shownin FIG. 5.

FIG. 1 1 shows the multi-cellular inflatable inner support crown 15 asconsisting of an upper section 40 with depending side sections 42. Theinner support crown 15 is placed in surface-to-surface engagement withthe shaped polyurethane sub-liner 18 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 so thatany force applied to the outer shell is ultimately transmitted to thehead only through this yieldable inner support crown. The crown 15consists of a plurality of separate inflated chambers and is describedin greater detail in US. Pat. No. 3,462,763.

From the aforementioned description, it is seen that this inventionprovides an improved protective headgear assembly which is hand gunbullet proof to effectively prevent injury to the scalp, skull, andbrain of the wearer by virtue of the unique construction and assembly ofthe outer shell 14, multilayer woven ballistic nylon liner 16, contourshaped polyurethane foam subliner l8 and the resilient inner supportcrown 15.

What is claimed is:

l. A protective headgear assembly comprising a rigid outer shell, aliner positioned within said outer shell in surface-to-surfaceengagement therewith, said liner being comprised of a plurality ofindependent layers of cloth material that are independently yieldableand movable inwardly in said assembly so that said layers can functionin successive manner to retard movement of a bullet fired through saidouter shell, a sub-liner positioned within said liner and in .aninwardly spaced position from said outer shell, said inner liner beingcomprised of a closed cell foam material shaped to correspond generallyto the shape of said outer shell, said outer shell, said liner and saidsub-liner being movable relative to each other in response to an impactblow to said outer shell to thereby distribute and absorb the force fromthe blow, and a yieldable crown disposed in supporting engagement withsaid sub-liner shaped to fit on the head of a wearer of said assembly.

2. A protective headgear assembly according to claim 1 wherein saidliner layers are formed of woven nylon, and each layer consists of aplurality of shaped sections that are connected together, said layersbeing arranged in surface-to-surface non-secured contact enabling freerelative movement of said layers.

3. A protective headgear assembly according to claim 2 wherein saidsub-liner is shaped to conform to the shape of the inner surface of theliner and is comprised of a closed cell plastic foam.

4. A protective headgear assembly according to claim 3 wherein saidinner crown consists of a plurality of separate inflatable chambers.

5. A protective headgear assembly according to claim 1 wherein saidouter shell is comprised of a pair of sections arranged in a spacedrelation in a direction extending outwardly from said liner.

1. A protective headgear assembly comprising a rigid outer shell, aliner positioned within said outer shell in surface-tosurface engagementtherewith, said liner being comprised of a plurality of independentlayers of cloth material that are independently yieldable and movableinwardly in said assembly so that said layers can function in successivemanner to retard movement of a bullet fired through said outer shell, asub-liner positioned within said liner and in an inwardly spacedposition from said outer shell, said inner liner being comprised of aclosed cell foam material shaped to correspond generally to the shape ofsaid outer shell, said outer shell, said liner and said sub-liner beingmovable relative to each other in response to an impact blow to saidouter shell to thereby distribute and absorb the force from the blow,and a yieldable crown disposed in supporting engagement with saidsub-liner shaped to fit on the head of a wearer of said assembly.
 2. Aprotective headgear assembly according to claim 1 wherein said linerlayers are formed of woven nylon, and each layer consists of a pluralityof shaped sections that are connected together, said layers beingarranged in surface-to-surface non-secured contact enabling freerelative movement of said layers.
 3. A protective headgear assemblyaccording to claim 2 wherein said sub-liner is shaped to conform to theshape of the inner surface of the liner and is comprised of a closedcell plastic foam.
 4. A protective headgear assembly according to claim3 wherein said inner crown consists of a plurality of separateinflatable chambers.
 5. A protective headgear assembly according toclaim 1 wherein said outer shell is comprised of a pair of sectionsarranged in a spaced relation in a direction extending outwardly fromsaid liner.